John Cheever

John Cheever often has been called a "novelist of manners." He is
known for his elegant, suggestive short stories, which scrutinize
the New York business world through its effects on the
businessmen, their wives, children, and friends. A wry,
melancholy and never quite quenched but seemingly hopeless desire
for passion or metaphysical certainty lurks in the shadows of
Cheever's finely drawn, Chekhovian tales, collected in The Way
Some People Live (1943), The Housebreaker of Shady
Hill (1958),
Some People, Places and Things That Will Not Appear in My Next
Novel (1961), The Brigadier and the Golf Widow (1964),
and The
World of Apples (1973). His titles reveal his characteristic
nonchalance, playfulness, and irreverence and hint at his subject
matter. Cheever also published several novels -- The Wapshot
Scandal (1964), Bullet Park (1969), and
Falconer (1977) -- the
last of which was largely autobiographical.